Stacker tube for cone cup machine



March 19, 1957 P. H. CARTER 2,785,784

STACKER TUBE FOR CONE CUP MACHINE Filed Nov. 2, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1FIG. 1.

INVENTOR.

BY PAUL H. CARTER March 19, 1957 'P. H. CARTER 2,785,784

STACKER TUBE FOR cons CUP momma Filed Nov. 2'. 1955 2 Sheets-She et 2FIG. 2.

mmvron. BY PA U L H. CARTE R wa /W ATTORNEY STACKER TUBE FDR CGNE CUPMACHINE Paul H. Carter, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Joseph Shapiro,Baltimore, Md.

Application November 2, 1955, Serial N 544,492

Claims. (Cl. 1932) This invention relates to paper cup making machinesand is more particularly concerned with an improvement in certain typesof paper cup making machines which utilize a stacker tube.

In the manufacture of the so-called cone or V paper cups, a number ofdifferent types of machines are employed. Basically, however, thesemachines comprise a cone-shaped mandrel about which a piece of paper iswound to form the cup. Prior to winding the paper about the mandrel,glue is applied to the paper at selected areas so that the cup after itis formed will hold its shape and be leakproof.

Cups of this type, in order to be profitable from the point of view ofthe manufacturer, must be made at an extremely rapid rate of productionand they are frequently made as fast as 200 to 300 cups per minute. Thismeans that each cup is on the mandrel only a fraction of a second. Todate, no one has yet devised a glue suitable for use on such cups whichsets in such a short period of time. Accordingly, it is necessary tohold the cups, after they leave the mandrel, in a conical shape for aperiod sufficient to permit the glue to set. This is frequently done bymeans of a stacker tube into which the cups are projected serially fromthe mandrel. As the cups pass slowly from one end of the stacker tube tothe other, their shapes are retained while the glue sets and they canthen be removed without danger of opening up or leaking.

A typical stacker tube is illustrated in U. S. Patent No. 2,203,513which is inclined downwardly at its receiving end and provided withopposing ratchet toothed or barbed members which permit the cups to passinto the tube point first, but restrain them from moving in the oppositedirection.

Another type of stacker tube is shown in U. S. Patent No. 2,203,510wherein an oscillating stacker plate is provided to hold the cups inplace.

By an exacting stroboscopic examination, I have found that stacker tubesof these and similar types which utilize a member in contact with themouth of the outermost cup or cups have certain disadvantages. In thecase of the ratchet-toothed or barbed members, for example,

' the flexing of the rim of the cup is of a decided disadvantage. Asindicated above, the glue at this point in the operation of the machinehas not yet had time to set. Accordingly, the flexing of the cup or theapplication of a force against the rim of the cup, has a tendency tocause the cup to open up along the glued seam thereof, or to cause ashifting of one edge over the other at the glued areas, particularlynear. the rim of the cup. As a result, some of the cups may becomedamaged, or some of the glue may be spread to an exterior or exposedarea and cause sticking with an adjacently nested cup.

The general object of this invention is the provision of a stacker tubeof the type mentioned which does not employ and does not require the useof any form of barb or detent to hold the cups in the stacker tube.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a United Statesatent stacker tube of the type mentioned having a throat section sodesigned as to obviate the flexing of the cups therey up of air pressurebetween a cup entering the tube and the stack of nested cups already inthe tube.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentand more fully understood from the following description consideredtogether with the apart from the cup-making machine and partly brokenaway.

Fig. 3 is a developed view of the upper part of the stacker tube.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the stacker tube looking down the throatthereof.

Referring with more particularity to the drawing in which like numeralsdesignate like parts, the embodiment illustrated is shown in combinationwith a typical coneforrning machine of the type described in U. S.Patent No. 2,287,015, and having a forming mandrel 11, a bottom plate3.2, a knife edge 13 on the mandrel 11. A paper strip (not shown) issupported by the plate 12. There is also a mandrel shaft 14, driven by asuitable source of power, gears 35 on shaft 14 engaging an idler gear 35on a shaft 717 which is also engaged with a gear 13 on a verticm'spindle 19. 'A casting 20 supports the entire mandrel assembly whichrevolves around the spindle 19.

The entire mandrel assembly, including casting 20, is rotated in anorbital path by a suitable source of power (not shown) and is supportedby means of a stationary head 21.

To the lower part of the vertical spindle 1? is afiixed a housing 22upon which is mounted a rotatable wheel 23, hereinafter referred to asthe discharge or kick-01f roll. When the mandrel is in dischargeposition, as shown in full lines in Fig. l, the completed cup thereon isbrought against the rapidly rotating wheel 23 and is thereby dischargedinto the stacker tube 24 mounted in the general position shown in Fig.l.

The cups move off the mandrel into the mouth of the stacker tube withsuch rapidity that there is an air pressure built up on the exterior ofthe cups as they move. In ordinary types of stacker tubes, this airpressure is retained-and it develops between the cup going into the tubeand the nested stack already in the tube. As a result, there is atendency for the cups to jump back out of the mouth of the tube untilthe pressure is released by leakage of air past the rim of the incomingcup. To prevent this, various means have been provided in prior types ofstacker tubes, including barbed members, oscillating pressure plates,etc. invention, however, all such mechanical holding means with theirinherent functional defects, as explained above, are eliminated andinstead, there are provided means to avoid or sharply reduce the airpressure build up. Such means include a front section on the stackertube having a group of outwardly flared fingers 25 spaced apart by meansof wedge-shaped slits 26. The throat of the tube which is immediatelyadjacent said fingers is also provided with apertures 27, preferably ina circumferential row, as shown.

By these means, air cannot become trapped between the nested stack andthe incoming cups, because the space Patented Mar. 1951 A further objectof the invention is the provision of' a stacker tube which has a throatsection with a smooth interior surface and means for preventing thebuilding In accordance with this thereof is in communication with theexterior through the apertures'27 and the slits 26. The flaring of thefingers 25 also provides a better target for the cups as compared to thetypeof stacker tube in which the mouth end'is substantially of 'the samediameter as the of thecups. This means that the cups are camrned intothe stacker tube by the flared fingers rather than by the I The stackertubeisrsecured to the machine in any suitable manner, such asby'brackets 29 and 39, as

' shown.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1, A stacker tube fora paper cup machine comprising a tubular memberhaving one end thereof outwardly flared to receive paper cone 'cups tobe stacked, said tubular member having apertures therein from theexterior to the interior thereof adjacent said flared end.

2. A stacker tube for a paper cone cup machine comprising a tubularmember, one end of said member having an outwardly flared end subdividedinto a group of finers, said tubular member having apertures thereinfrom the exterior to the interior thereof adjacent said fingers.

3. A stacker tube for a paper cone cup: machine com-' v prising atubular member, a group of fingers at one end f of the member, saidfingers being outwardly flared, said I member having a circumferentialrow of apertures therein from the exterior to the interior thereofadjacent said fingers.

4. A stacker tube for a paper cone cup machine comprising a tubularmember, a group of fingers at one end F of'the'member, said fingersbeing outwardly flared and spaced apart, said member having aperturestherein from the exterior to the interior thereof adjacent said fingers.

5. In a paper cup machine having a stacker tube, said stacker tubehaving a receiving end, fingers projecting upwardly and outwardly fromsaid receiving end, said tube having a circumferential row of aperturestherein from the exterior to the interior thereof adjacent said fingers.Q

References Cited in the file of this patent V 1 UNITED STATES PATENTSWallace Feb. 10, 1903 Black Sept. 19, 1950

